Results for transgenics
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Dictionary:

transgenics

  (trăns-jĕn'ĭks, trănz-) pronunciation
n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

The study of or methodology used to create transgenic animals or plants.


 
 
World of the Body: transgenics

Transgenics is the transfer of genetic information that is not normally present into the genome of a species. To create a transgenic species the relevant gene (transgene) is introduced into stem cells, which are in turn introduced into a blastocyst (the product of the early cell division of a fertilized egg). If the resulting progeny have the transgene in their germ cells then transgenic species can be derived by breeding. The new characteristics of the resulting animals (their altered phenotype) reveal or confirm the function of the transgene. By introduction of genetic material to disrupt a gene into a species, such as mice, accurate models of human genetic diseases can be created. These so called ‘knockout’ animals are essential for formulating approaches to the treatment of human genetic disease.

— Alan W. Cuthbert

See genetics, human; stem cells.

 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
World of the Body. The Oxford Companion to the Body. Copyright © 2001, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more

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